“Raucous clubhouses for free speech”

“It’s funny that we think of libraries as quiet demure places where we are shushed by dusty, bun-balancing, bespectacled women. The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community. Librarians have stood up to the Patriot Act, sat down with noisy toddlers and reached out to illiterate adults. Libraries can never be shushed.”—Paula Poundstone, national spokesperson for Friends of Libraries, U. S. A. (FOLUSA)

September is National Library Card Month. Visit your local public library, sign up, and exercise your intellectual freedom.